Savannah Rennie won the offensive zone faceoff and glided backward to the slot. She looked as Emma Polaski chipped the puck toward the net. As the shot was sunk, Rennie later said she “kind of got lucky” to have the puck go off her stick and beat the Penn State goalie.

As Syracuse skaters on the ice converged to celebrate, Polaski patted Rennie’s head a couple of times with a wide smile painted on her face. It was the junior’s first goal of the season.

“It was good — long time coming I think,” Rennie said. “I didn’t get much games in the first half, so it was exciting to finally get a puck in the net.”

Rennie scored a difference maker as the Orange (6-17-2, 6-5-1 College Hockey America) tied Penn State (10-10-5, 4-7-1), 1-1, Saturday afternoon at Tennity Ice Pavilion. It came at the back end of a “tough week emotionally” for Rennie, SU head coach Paul Flanagan said.

Flanagan hopes the goal will turn things around for Rennie, who had nine goals her freshman year and eight last year. The junior came into the season leading all SU forwards with 37 career points and was expected to contribute similar numbers this year. But she’s only played in 12 of the Orange’s 25 games, earning three points.

“She’s a player we really need, so to have her finally get the monkey off her back, so to speak, that’s big for her,” Flanagan said. “… That’ll hopefully get her where she’s starting to feel better about herself.”

The shots haven’t been going in, but she’s one of seven players taking two or more shots a game. On Saturday, she continued that trend.

Before the faceoff leading up to her goal, she forced a whistle with a shot into the goalie’s midsection. And just 10 seconds into overtime, she broke into the zone with a 2-on-1 opportunity, firing a shot off the goalie’s shoulder. Rennie finished the game with five shots on goal. Her impact was also felt in other areas of the ice. In the two games against Penn State this weekend, Rennie won 30-of-53 faceoffs, too.

Published on January 26, 2019 at 8:08 pm

Contact Arabdho: armajumd@syr.edu | @aromajumder